A new species of Nephus (Nephus) (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) described from Reunion Island

Abstract

We report here a new species belonging to Nephus (Nephus) Mulsant. Nephus (Nephus) apolonia sp. nov. was collected in the Reunion Island (Mascarene Archipelago, Indian Ocean). We describe this new species and redescribe and illustrate three other Nephus species already known from Reunion: Nephus (Nephus) oblongosignatus Mulsant, 1850, Nephus (Geminosipho) reunioni (Fürsch, 1974) and Nephus (Nephus) voeltzkowi Weise, 1910. Furthermore, we present a phylogenetic tree for these four species and calculate the genetic distances between them, using high-throughput DNA sequencing of the mitochondrial genome. The similar external morphology of N. apolonia sp. nov. and N. voeltzkowi very probably explains why individuals from the first species have been mistakenly identified as the latter and were not recognized as different until now. Other than external and genitalia traits, the present study provides molecular evidence confirming these are indeed two different species.